from new york, we'll see you tomorrow. good night, america. [captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute ---www.ncicap.org--- bret: on this special edition of "special report" are we safer today as a nation? how far have we come? what are the biggest security challenges ahead? a mourning of commemoration interrupted by a temporary scare because of a coast guard training mission. democrats warn again that they may have to go it alone on healthcare reform. what is the time line now? and acorn fires another two employees after a second undercover video, and we have breaking news on this story tonight. all that, plus the fox all-stars, "special report" live from the pentagon starts right now.

welcome to the pentagon. just steps from the impact site of american airlines flight 77. i'm bret baier. the weather matched the mood today. thousands turned out to attend rain swept ceremonies in new york, here at the pentagon and in shanksville, pennsylvania, and in marking the anniversary of the attack, president obama said that eight septembers may have come and gone but the brief still lingers. wendell goler has the story. >> once again, the president said, we pause and we pray at the sight of the bloodiest foreign attack this country has ever suffered and the pentagon, where 184 more people were lost, and in the pennsylvania field where 40 heroic airline passengers died, preventing another attack. >> nearly 3,000 days have passed, almost one for each of those taken from us. no turning of the seasons can

diminish the pain and the loss of that day. >> once again, we read the names of all the victims. >> you guys are always heroes. >> under the bravery of the first responders an vowed to bring those responsible to justice. >> we will never wane in the pursuit of al qaeda. >> this 8th anniversary of the attacks was the first in which the u.s. president didn't utter the words "war on terror," the first in which administration officials joined washington, d.c. service projects, the president and first lady painting for first lady painting for habitat for humanity. in april, the president declared 9/11 a day of service and severance, pushed by a bill by senator ted kennedy. mr. obama recalled how we came together the day of the attack and the days that followed. >> united in our grief and in our resolve to stand with one another, to stand up for the country we all love. >> in a written statement, former president bush said,

"we honor those who volunteer to keep us safe and extend the reach of freedom," but he made no mention of service. some conservatives support the public service, and others say it will turn it into a day of liberal activism. that follows concerns about national security policies with president obama. >> i have serious doubts about his policies, serious doubts about the extent to which he understands and is prepared to do what needs to be done to defend the nation. >> the decision to close guantanomo bay has drawn as much fire as anything else. critics say it is hasty since it is unclear where the inmates will go. the white house says it's still on track to close gitmo by january but rethinking using military commissions to try the terror spus suspects. >> they opened their minds to the idea of commissions and the idea of a very careful process of trying those individuals through this process that has been used many times in the past. >> like his predecessor,

president obama says keeping americans safe is the first thing he thinks about in the morning and the last thing at night. it is what he talks about publicly in between is more likely to solve health reform, the economy or something else, which may be why polls suggest less confidence in his handling of national security matters. bret. bret: wendell goler live on the north lawn. thank you. senator armed services committee chairman carl levin says no additional troops should be sent to afghanistan until more afghan security forces are trained. that drew criticism from arizona republican senator john mccain, who says waiting on the afghan army could be a mistake. >> i believe that the best way to succeed in afghanistan is to take major steps to strengthen and support the afghan army and police so that they can take principal responsibility. >> as we wait until the afghan

national army increases in size and capable of carrying on these operations fully on its own, it may well be too late. >> the september 11 attacks were both a tragedy and a call to arms for the brave men and women of the u.s. military r while the terrorists responsible have been severely weakened, they have not been defeated yet. national security correspondent jennifer griffin has the story. >> at the pentagon, every day there are reminders of 9/11 and the two wars still being waged as a result. what goes through your mind when you hear a plane above the pentagon? >> a hair still stands up on the back of your neck, and then you recognize that they are still a threat. >> general frank kearney is the deputy commander of u.s. special operations forces and was the operations chief when the first troops landed in afghanistan less than a month after 9/11. >> the key thing was to have boots on the ground. they wanted to make sure that

we could demonstrate to the american people and demonstrate to the taliban that we can reach in there and touch you immediately. >> and they are still there. eight years hater, until recently, afghanistan was considered the good war by war critics. iraq's, they said, was the bad war, based on bad intelligence and with little, if any link to the 9/11 attacks. today a u.s. soldier is 15 times more likely to die in afghanistan than in iraq, where there are nearly twice the u.s. troops, about 132,000. al qaeda in iraq has all been been destroyed. the surge and the assassination of zarqawi killed off that insurgency. the new threat to iraq is iranian influence and weapons that fuel instability, like these captured by u.s. and iraqi forces along the iranian border recently. similar weapons from iran are now being found in the hands of the taliban. afghanistan is a war that the

chairman of the joint chiefs and others have said was underresourced due to iraq. the taliban are now resurgent and there are more than 60,000 u.s. troops there and rising. some argue that predators are the answer. pull out the troops an strike from the air, but kearney and others inside the pentagon have learned you need intelligence on the ground gathered by u.s. forces living with the locals. >> i think it would be incredibly difficult to be able to do what we need to do without having boots on the ground in these places. it's just i don't think you could just strike key players. >> jennifer griffin now joins me live. jennifer, where do we stand on the request for more u.s. troops? >> well, general mcchrystal is expected to make a request for more resources in the coming days and weeks t could include up to 48,000 troops but it has not made its way up to the chain of command or to the president's desk but when it does, president obama will have a tough choice to make, now with leading democrats

opposed to more troops, mr. obama may have to align himself with republicans to get the backing he needs on capitol hill. bret: the clock is ticking on this one, too. >> that's right. it is not clear where secretary gates stands on more troops. bret: earlier today, just a short distance from where i'm standing, a coast guard training exercise caused widespread panic in the area. reports of shots being fired and the coast guard's decision not to notify local, state or federal authorities before the, quote, routine exercise sent in motion a chain of events, including temporarily shutting down reagan national airport. we'll have more on today's security scare later in the bowed cast. but first, in news around the world, pakistani soldiers have arrested five senior taliban officials. among the detainees is taliban spokesman muss lamb kahn, who spent several years in the u.s. and frequently called media outlets to claim responsibility for militant attacks. vd myrrh putin's spokesman

says the russia has warned against new sanctions against iran, telling russian foreign experts that he had no reason to doubt that iran's nuclear program is anything but purely peaceful. this comes days after reports surfaced of a secret trip to russia by israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, reportedly to try to convince the russians not to go forward with the s-300 anti-aircraft missiles to iran. it is now crunch time on chill as negotiators try to hammer out a deal on healthcare reform before the legislative session ends. we will tell you if a deal is near or if democrats will decide to just go it alone. a portion of the pentagon was not occupied or else the death toll would have been higher.

renovation took one year. when they were putting things back together, they left this one charred block to remember the day. >> and here, where a single stone of this building is still blackened by the fires. we remember with reference the ( conversation ) garth, you're up. hold on, i'm at capitalone.com picking a photo... for my credit card. here's one from my prom. oh, what memories. how 'bout one from our golf outing? ( shouting ) i know, maybe one of my first-born son. dad, mom says the boys gotta go. personalize your card by uploading... your own photo at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? ♪

bret: this is a fox news alert. a second undercover videotape exposing interesting advice from members of the association of community organizations for reform now, known as acorn, has caused the u.s. census bureau to cut all ties with the embattled organization. that news coming out in the past few minutes. eric shawn has been following this story of the videotape. >> my wife is a prostitute. >> ok. >> for a second time, acorn workers are seen helping a supposed prostitute break the law. in the latest tape, filmmaker

james o'keefe, a 25-year-old conservative activist and his colleague, playing a prostitute say they want to get a loan to buy a house for their prostitution business. the acorn employees tell them how to hide the supposed criminal activities, mask the money as legitimate income and not tell the police the truth. >> you can't put down lady of the night. they don't want to know where your money is coming. all they want is accountability. >> i can own the trick and she can perform tricks in the house? >> yep. >> acorn says the tapes are part of a long-term plan to smear the group. the president of acorn housing says "we were al pap appalled and angry to seat employees offering advice on how to operate an illegal enterprise. the videotape is planted to misinform about acorn housing. the people who made the tape went to five other acorn offices where they were turned

away or acorn housing employees responded by calling the police. bret: that was eric shawn reporting. the census director has sent a letter to the national headquarters of acorn notifying them that the census bureau is severing all ties with acorn for all the work having to do with the 2010 census, either in preparation for, or execution of the 2010 census. acorn was going to do some of the low-level data gathering that will now occur -- that had will now not occur a copy of this letter has been sent to the u.s. congress and el sant committees and also sent to acorn. major garrett is working this story. we will hopefully have that letter soon. again, the census bureau is cutting all ties with acorn. the house democratic leadership has decided to formally discipline congressman joe wilson if he does not apologize on the house floor for an outburst during wednesday's presidential address. wilson shouted, as you

probably he know now "you lie!" as president obama was saying that his healthcare reform plan does not cover illegal immigrants. the decision is a reversal by house speaker nancy pelosi who said after the speech, she saw no need for discipline. the senate democrat's lead negotiator on healthcare reform says he plans to have draft legislation ready next week, and that his committee may consider it without bipartisan support. as chief political correspondent carl cameron reports, the clock is ticking. >> senate finance committee chairman max baucus after months of negotiateings says he is go ahead with healthcare reform with or without republicans. democrats have agreed to make sure illegal aliens do not receive government-funded health insurance and that tax dollars are not used for abortions. >> i want to make it clear that federal funds will not be used to pay for abortion.

>> baucus plans to present to his full committee a draft health insurance reform plan for cooperatives instead of a government-run insurance option. at the same time, the congressional budget office is expected to reveal the estimated price tag. that's crucial before the following week when the finance committee very ambitiously hopes to rush through amendments an actually vote on the baucus plan f that happens, a big if, the senate will try in the week of the 28th to combine the baucus bill with the bill from the committee once chaired by the late ted kennedy which includes a government-run insurance program. keeping this pace would shatter senate speed records. at the same time, in the house over the next thee weeks, speaker man nancy pelosi must combine into one, three bills from the ways and means committee, education and labor committee and energy and commerce committee no easy task t trook her 7 confusing minutes to explain how just this week. >> in the course of the month ahead. >> in the first week of

october, the house could vote on a single healthcare reform package. the senate almost always votes after the house on major issues. yet despite the accelerated pace, senators hope to agree on sayingel bill and pass their one verntion version in the same time range. by the week of october 1 2-rbgs the house and senate would like their separate bills passed because then they need to go to a conference committee that both chambers would have to approve a final time. the senate democratic majority is contemplating a week off in october so lawmakers could go back home and talk about healthcare reform proposals with voters. if that's not enough, the most important date is october 15. that's the deadline for the democratic majority to decide whether or not they will go this alone without bipartisan support. the 15th is the deadline for so-called reconciliation legislation, the complicated tool that would allow the house to pass it with just 51

votes. bret: carl cameron, live on capitol hill. thanks. eight years after the september 11 attacks, ground zero rises from the ashes, but there are some considerable challenges to overcome. stay tuned. just outside the spot where the plane hit the pentagon is this, the pentagon memorial. roughly two acres, an each one of these benches represents one of the 184 people who died in the attack. the benches that face away from the pentagon represent one of the 59 people aboard american airlines flight 77. the benches that face the pentagon represent one of the 125 people who died in the building. the names are on the front of each bench. for survivors of this attack who were in the building at the time, this anniversary brings up horrible memories. >> the sound, the people that you knew and worked with that was dying or had died. the smell that i can never get rid of, so a lot of things

that i recall from that day is actually it's like a tattoo that air in your home can be

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bret: and now fresh pickings from the political grapevine. ahead of president obama's third interview on "60 minutes" this sunday, we thought we would break down the television interviews he has given since taking office. nbc leads the pack with ten,

including a full day behind the scenes. cbs is next with a total of nine interviews, including this weekend's sitdown. abc follows with 8. over at cnn, their stallly stands at five. fox news chan nal's count is at two. espn got one interview, as did arabic network. even 11 year old darrin weaver from florida was given a full interview with president obama at the white house next month. we are told "special report" request is still pending. even though cal foreignians have been battling raging forest fires, it is washington, d.c. that will receive millions of stimulus dollars allocated for forest firefighting. the forest service has announced it will spend $2.7 million in the nation's capital. the money will go to the group washington parks and people, which sponsors festivals an refurbishes urban parks. one californian republican

lawmaker whose district has seen some of the worst fires says, quote, funds that should be used to thin our overgrown forests and protect the public are being frivolously spent on park restoration. our calls to the forest service were not returned. and eight years after the september 11 attacks, a pew global research poll finds support for bin laden has declined considerably among muslim countries. the al qaeda leader has taken the biggest hit in indonesia, pakistan and jordan, but still, about a quarter of muslims in jordan and indonesia express confidence in bin laden to do the right thing when it comes to world affairs n pakistan, the figure stands at just 18%. back in 2003, that number was almost double at 34%. a routine coast guard training exercise in the potomac river today just minutes from here caused a security scare throughout washington. what really happened and why wasn't anyone notified of this drill? national correspondent catherine herridge has the

details. >> no, i am not issuing apology! >> the coast guard chief of staff said his fleet was not to blame for a morning of chaos on the banks of the potomac river in washington. as as as a 9/11 ceremony was concluding at the pentagon, a coast guard exercise was moving ahead. with reports by the national media of a suspicious boat and shots fired, all within a two-mile radius of the pentagon and the white house, d.c. police and federal agents swarmed the area. as a he precaution, the f.a.a. put flights at nearby reagan national airport on hold. not the white house, not home hand security, not the secret service, nor the f.b.i.'s washington field office were notified in advance of the exercise. not a mistake, says the coast guard. >> this is a low-profile normal training exercise that goes on every day as we train our people to handle the boats shall, handle the security protocol. there was no reason for specific agency notification.

>> but what was supposed to be a routine training exercise morphed into a media controversy when scanner traffic was picked up and reported on cnn as fact that shots had been fired on a suspicious vessel, but in a real incident, the coast guard says it does not use an open or public frequency. >> if we're involved in a natural operation with secret service or other federal agencies, we go encrypted on the radio, so it cannot be intercepted. >> given the push after 9/11 to do a better job sharing intelligence through operation centers like this one, the large larger question is how could this happen and who could plan an exercise like this one on 9/11? a former coast guard official says the service will do an internal review of its procedures. >> he bears a big responsibility for deconflicting all exercises, that is making sure it is never confused that it is an exercise, and it is a heavy burden. >> thomas sanderson with the center of the strategic and international studies in washington says there is a

larger question about the size of homeland security and the mind-set. >> part of the problem, sure, is that the bureaucracy itself. it is large, but number two, it's often individuals who fail to do their jobs, and that is very difficult to change. habits are very difficult to alter despite 9/11. >> on the surface, this incident seems reminiscent of the air force i fiasco in april when a publicity shoot he led to panic on the streets because new york authorities were not in the loop and it appeared that the city was under attack again. there is one significant difference in that the new york flyover was a publicity shoot and not a real terrorism training exercise. bret. bret: it had people interested here today. thank you. stocks broke their winning streak today. the dow lost just over 22 points. the s&p 500 gave back nearly one and a half and the nasdaq fell three and change. well, it has been eight years since the tragic events of september 11, so how have we

as a nation progressed? and what are the biggest outstanding threats? the fox all-stars weigh in when we return. right next to this spot where the plane entered the pentagon is a memorial to america's heroes. you can see the names of the 184 victims carved on these black panels. on this side, the purple heart medal that was awarded to all of the military service members who died. the defensive of freedom medal was given to the civilians. there are 1r 84 biographies here of all the victims. for the first responders who responded to this attack they tell a very interesting story of their memories of that day. >> the smoke, the fire, the screaming, the yelling, the air pleen pieces, parts, all over the ground, people walking out of the building badly burned. your training kicks in. you think about just helping people and bringing them to a safe area and getting them

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>> let us renew our e solve against those who plot o against our still. in defense of our nation, we will never waiver in pursuit of cade da and its extremist allies, we will never falter^ . we need a surge of afghan security forces. we have not done nearly enough to put that in motion. before we consider additional combat troops, we ought to take these steps to strengthen the afghan army. >> well, that was senator carl levin, the chairman of the senate armed services committee expressing doubts of democrats on capitol hill about sending more u.s. troops in afghanistan, as the president pledges to fight al qaeda wherever it is, so where are we now? let's br in our panel.

bill kristol, editor of the weekly standard, nina easton, washington bureau chief of fortune magazine and syndicated columnist, charles krauthammer. bill, let's start with you about fighting troops in fighting the war on terrorism. >> i hope president obama doesn't falter and i hope he accedes to and responds to general mccrystal and general pet tase' request for new troops to succeed in afghanistan. i'm worried that democrats on the hill are heading for the exits. people within his own administration, his chief of staff, rahm emanuel, i'm told, is telling him, you should not be the lyndon johnson of this ear era. don't get your presidency mired down in a tough war. figure out a way to get out of. there i hope president obama goes with the generals and not the political advisors. he cannot lose in afghanistan to withdraw from the place in which 9/11 was launch, what that would do from afghanistan and pakistan, it would be a

shot in the arm t would show weakness on the part of america. i think it would be terrible, but i've got to say, general mccrystal and petraeus and admiral mullen and gates want to fight and win. i'm not sure anyone else is telling p president obama that's that that's the right thing to do in his own administration. bret: nina, do you sense that the political winds are shifting up on capitol hill when it comes to afghanistan? >> i think there is different political winds. i'm going to take senator levin at his word and say that he is possibly not the nancy pelosi on this issue who clearly wants troops out as soon as possible. mccrystal himself has called for, in his report, according to published reports at least, he is calling for a surge of afghan troops. they want to double the afghan army. they want to double or nearly double the police force. he complains that when you go out on a major operation, say with 11,000 american troops, you might have 500 afghan troops with you. they understand this.

this is part of what they want to do. they want more boots on the ground, a more interactive, more one-on-one training with the afghan security forces, but the point that he makes in this is that you need more american soldiers there to be able to train the afghan troops, so i think, you know, levin and mcchrystal are somewhat on the same page. a lot of it is about timing. do you refuse to send in american troops or more american troops without more afghan forces being trained? bret: charles. >> well, i think levin's proposal, the part of it in which he says he wants an increase in the afghan army is objectionable and everyone shares that ideal. you want to get it to a quarter million within several years which ought to be enough to hold the country. the problem is that you have to learn the lesson of iraq. if we're in a downward spiral, where the violence is increasing and the enemy is on

the ascendance si, no amount of troops is going to prevail. the iraqi army was completely ineffective in 2006 when the violence occurred. what has to happen first is you have to have a surge of american troops which will then be able to create the conditions under which the iraqi army can hold and sustain itself. that's exactly what happened in iraq. we had our troops population and protection and it earned the trust of the people. we were able to get intelligence to get the bad guys that. is a virtuous circle. you have to reverse the downward spiral of the war as it happened in iraq. if you try to only sustain and build a large afghan army in the absence of turning around the trajectory of the war, it will be too late and completely ineffective. bret: eight years after 9/11, you ask most intelligence officials what the threat is for this nation and they will

say iran. there are a number of developments. iran is active in afghanistan. we have confirmed that. iran has thumbed its nose at the world about its nuclear program. now we're hearing that possibly russia may be selling some s-300 anti-aircraft missiles to iran, and that possibly israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu made a secret trip there to prevent that sale. bill, are we getting closer to a point of no return when it comes to israel and iran? >> i think we're getting closer to the obama administration having to decide are they serious about stopping iran from getting nuclear weapons? i mean, iran gave a contemptuous response to our question to talk about the nuclear program saying yeah, we will talk about global climate change and the administration said, ok, fine, we'll talk about that. the administration has gotten a lot of time from its critics including people like me, ok, wait until september, let's give them time to play this out. they really are now facing a moment of choice in the next few weeks on whether they will

be total patsies for iran or try to impose serious sanctions and threaten the use of force. bret: that's the last word on this panel. stay with us. democrats consider going it alone on healthcare. acorn under fire again, breaking news about that, and the coast guard creates a scare. the friday lightning round is next.ext if you had a hoveround power chair? the statue of liberty? the grand canyon? it's all possible with a hoveround. tom: hi i'm tom kruse, inventor and founder of hoveround. when we say you're free to see the world, we mean it. call today and get a free hoveround information kit that includes a video and full color brochure. dennis celorie: "it's by far the best chair i've ever owned." and if you qualify get it for little or no money. jim plunkitt: "no cost. absolutely no cost to me." breaking news...when you call today, we'll include

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bret: coast guard officials say they are not apologizing for a training mission on the potomac river not far from where i'm standing today. it was reported by a number of media outlets that shots were fired. that set everyone off and in fact, flights were stopped at reagan national airport.

it turned out to be nothing, just a training exercise and shots were not fired. we're back with the panel. nina, the timing of this? >> well, i think this is a 24-hour news story. it's going to go away. it is nothing like you said. if i was going to talk about the war on terror today september 11, i'm going to worry a couple of mile >> way from that in langley, virginia where this administration has undermined and is continuing to undermine the capabilities of the c.i.a. intelligence breakdowns are what led to 9/11 and this administration by appointing a special prosecutor, by trying to criminalize the national security policies by the past administration, i think is doing damage to the safety of the country. bret: charles. >> i agree. i think this administration has adopted a september 10 mentality that all of this since 9/11, including 9/11 is a matter of law enforcement and not of war. i would just say about this little incident that in the roughly half a trillion we spend on defense every year, we ought

to include a few calendars for the coast guard. bret: bill, it was a timing issue. >> it was, but on the other hand, the media made up the fact that they had shots and now the media is criticizing about a training report that they misreported on. bret: to be fair, they heard it over a scanner. it was a practice apparently on the radio but still media organizations went with it and it observed a lot of the day. another story we have been following, acorn, the undercough are videos have shown some acorn members giving amazing advice to folks about setting up prostitution rings and brothels for underaged girls. well, now two people were fired in baltimore. today, two more employees were fired in washington, d.c. and now the u.s. census bureau is cutting all ties with acorn. bill, what do you think about that? >> glenn beck gets results are.

he is doing the vetting that the administration might do on its own grantees and on its own employees so it is like private sector vetting here of the use of taxpayer money. it's very useful. bret: nina. >> i like the suggestions by the acorn staff that the law seems to be something that you might want to follow or might not. i would love to see an investigation of acorn in this role in the housing crisis, because they were very instrumental, and by the way, acorn receives government grants. they were very instrumental in counseling people who couldn't afford homes how to get homes without downpayments and how to get aid to even pay for their fees to get into these houses. bret: charles, quickly, are we a few undercover videos away for a staffing issue of acorn you? acorn is a racket. this is not the first piece of evidence it is good that the census is cutting its ties. what is worrisome is if you look at the stimulus package, there

are all kinds of loopholes that could funnel millions into acorn and that ought to be looked at, audited and stopped. bret: all right. real lightning here. healthcare reform. democrats threatening again about wreck chron sill yation, the nuclear option. do they use it, charles? nina, bill? >> i think so. the president's speech was hyperpartisan. he made it clear he's going it alone. he showed no respect for the opposition or for any people who have raised objections t looks as if he wants to to reform a sixth of the u.s. economy on a straight party-line vote. >> well, if he does, i will just say that this is going to be a boon to republicans next year, because the sort of disdain he showed, for example, for the town halls where he called it political bickering, i think, only further angered people, and i think charlie cook, the non-partisan political analyst has already said the democrats are on a slide going into next year's midterm elections.

i think this is going to hurt them. >> i think they will try to jam it through on a partisan vote in the house and with reconciliation in the senate. i'm not con vined that they can get 18 democrats in the house or 51 democrats in the senate. the bill does provide federal funding for abortion. that is a showstopper for a certain number of democrats. 38 or 39. there are other issues where i can wonder if they can even get the democrats to push it through. bret: thank you, pan for playing the hollywood squares tonight. stay tuned for a look back at this day of remembrance. . o@5

bret: welcome back to the pentagon. finally, a few weeks after the 9/11 attacks, president george w. bush said this. "for the united states of

america, there will be no forgetting september the 11th. we will remember a rescue worker died in honor. we will remember every family that lives in great. we will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children." when you talk to family members of victims, that is the message they have for america. please come and never forget. thank you for watching "special report" tonight from the pentagon. have a great weekend. ["taps" playing]